garbled

1 of 2

adjective

gar·​bled ˈgär-bəld 

: made unclear or confusing : distorted or mixed up

a garbled message

garbled speech

… scientific cranks—those folks who concoct garbled and grandiose pseudo-scientific theories …

—Robert W. Wilson

A garbled group of syllables came over the speaker.

—Tom Clancy

But so much happened afterward to him that his five-day drive from Cracow to Warsaw soon became a garbled fading memory.

—Herman Wouk

Since the algorithm relies on the absolute accuracy of everything it has read to build the file, garbled information could lead to any number of mistakes.

—Paul C. Schuytema

garbled

2 of 2

past tense and past participle of garble entry 1

Examples of garbled in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

One morning, on our way out to a census site, the CB radio squawked to life in a staccato gunshot of garbled Kiswahili. — Literary Hub, 22 Sep. 2026

This device not only warns you of incoming threats (similar to the radio static in previous games) but also gently nudges you in the right direction by showing a garbled feed of landmarks. — Zackery Cuevas, PC Magazine, 21 Sep. 2026

Lead actor Anthony Ippolito, who landed the part with an unsolicited self-tape, disappears into the garbled diction and hangdog stubbornness of a young Stallone without ever coming off as a mere impression of a person. — Clayton Davis, Variety, 17 Sep. 2026

Earlier in the hour, some viewers reported seeing garbled images on the screen before going dark. — Ted Johnson, Deadline, 24 Aug. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

circa 1757, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for garbled

• marbled